


a merry little retail christmas

by stonerbughead



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Background Relationships, Co-workers, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Holiday Angst, M/M, Secret Relationship, Sexual Tension, also there will be weed bc it’s me, betty and jughead are broke 20-something freelance writers, co-workers at the same level, customers being shitty to retail workers and the trauma that results, holiday retail worker fic, nothing creepy here I promise, omg they were co-workers, working retail and just tryna get by in brooklyn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-09-17 18:46:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16979826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonerbughead/pseuds/stonerbughead
Summary: Betty and Jughead are keyholders at the often-forgotten Brooklyn location of an NYC-based gift shop, holding down the fort during the busiest time of the year.  To top it off, amongst the stress and glitter and bustle of the holiday season, Betty and Jughead are keeping a secret...a secret they don’t want to tell their co-workers until Christmas.A prompt that ran away from me for “Riverdale Reindeer Games 2018,” Day Two: DANCER - Presents/Shopping





	1. make it to christmas

**Author's Note:**

> warning: millennial/gen-zer vs. baby boomer jokes ahead ;) hope y’all enjoy the first chapter of this holiday fic that got away from me!

**december 1st**  
_24 days till christmas_

Helping other people buy presents. That’s what Betty associates the holidays with. 

When the holiday decorations go up and “Jingle Bell Rock” is blaring from the drug store on a near-constant loop, Betty is already knee-deep in holiday madness. Wrapping gifts for other people. Re-wrapping gifts when the first presentation isn’t to the customer’s liking. Scrawling the initials of customers’ loved ones on the bottom of wrapped gifts so they can tell them apart under the tree. Ringing up items while customers tap their feet and look pointedly at watches. Running to the “back room” to pretend to look for an item she knows isn’t there to appease an angry middle-aged mother at the end of her shopping list. 

This is her seventh year in a row working retail during the holiday season. She’d counted the years on her fingers in early November. To be more specific, from the top of a ladder after hanging up a snowflake ornament, laughing with her co-worker Jughead as he held the ladder steady below her and ruminated on retail Christmases past.

Despite the woman who had yelled at her earlier because Kevin accidentally lit their store menorah a day before Hanukkah actually starts— yes, a customer had legitimately screamed in Betty’s face for this reason—Betty is finding herself in relatively high spirits today. It’s the first December Saturday, when Betty finally feels that the holiday-themed songs they’ve been required to play since Halloween have earned the right to blare through the speakers. 

“Betts?” Jughead’s voice brings Betty out of her thoughts from beside her, where he’s ringing up items at the register while she boxes and wraps.

Betty looks up to find two pairs of eyes staring at her: an amused Jughead from beside her and an annoyed, posh, thirty-something woman from the other side of the counter.  


“Sorry, I totally spaced out!” Betty rushes to box the pair of earrings waiting on the counter, swiftly removing the tag, tucking the gift receipt under the cotton, and carefully measuring the little box on top of the wrapping paper to cut a perfect square. Their venomous boss Penny Peabody hates when they “waste” the wrapping paper. 

“It’ll just be another minute,” Jughead assures the woman, who is now rolling her eyes and checking her phone as Betty tapes up the gift wrapping as fast as her hands can go.

Betty concentrates on the task at hand, flipping the box over and tying a red ribbon into a perfect, well-practiced bow. She places it into the shopping bag Jughead already has open and outstretched for her, throwing in an extra layer of tissue paper for good measure.

“Gift receipt’s in the box,” Betty says as she hands the bag to the customer. “Thanks for your patience and happy holidays!” 

The customer gives them a curt nod before rushing out the door. Thankfully no other customers are ready to check out yet, giving Betty and Jughead a minute to catch their breaths.

“‘Happy holidays to you too, thanks for your help,’” Jughead imitates the woman’s voice, shaking his head and grinning.

Betty laughs. “Sorry I was off my game there.”

“You mean you’re not a gift wrapping robot perfectly programmed to wrap boxes in fifteen seconds or less?” 

“I must’ve forgotten to take my robot pills today.”

“Rookie mistake, Betty.”

“Who’re you callin’ a rookie? Last time I checked, I was the one who’s been working here longer.”

“And yet…”

They’re interrupted by one of their co-workers, Veronica, who has an annoyed look on her face as she approaches the counter.

“Oh no. What’s up, V?” Betty asks.

“The nice woman in the pink coat over there,” Veronica starts in the coded voice that means the woman is anything but nice, “wants to see my supervisor because we’re out of the candy cane snowglobes.”

“Did you…” Betty begins but Veronica cuts her off. 

“Yes, I’ve told her we’re expecting a shipment next week and that we can take her information and hold one for her when they come in, but she didn’t seem to care.”

Betty exchanges a look with Jughead. Jughead tilts his head toward the customer in question as if to say, “it’s your turn.”

Betty sighs before following Veronica to the other end of the store. “I’m coming.” 

Betty and Jughead are the two keyholders at the Williamsburg location of Hidden Fern Gifts, the bougie gift shop they work at, making them de facto bosses over the other sales associates despite the fact that they only make $1.50 an hour more than their co-workers. (“Not nearly enough to compensate being customers’ emotional punching bag for the holidays, but that’s non-union retail, baby,” Jughead had once put it, to Betty’s laughter.) At the other locations there are managers and assistant managers who take the heat, but working at the lowest-traffic store has its consequences. 

On Saturdays like today, it’s all hands on deck: Betty and Jughead usually tag-team the register for the busiest part of the day and mediate disputes with irate customers. The rest of the associates walk the floor, helping customers find items, restocking, and keeping the displays clean and presentable.

As Betty and Veronica deal with the angry customer, Jughead flicks his eyes across the floor to ensure everything else is in place: Archie, Kevin, and Cheryl are well-spread out amongst the customers, and Kevin is close enough to Jughead that he could call him for register back up if need be. Jughead relaxes, taking a minute to wipe the counter down.  


Jughead looks up at the sound of the bell on the front door ringing and catches a glimpse of the customer storming out. Both Betty and Veronica hold their hands up in disbelief across the store and Betty turns to comfort Veronica. Jughead can read her lips from across the room, reassuring Veronica she did everything right with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Veronica smiles, returning to her position.

Everyone loves Betty. She’s been working at this store for three years, as just an associate for half the time and a keyholder for the other half. She knows this place like the back of her hand, and she’s very dedicated to shielding the other associates from as much customer vitriol as possible, especially during the holidays.

“You missed a spot,” Betty says as she joins him again behind the counter. 

Jughead practically drops the bottle of Lysol he’s holding. “What did I tell you about sneaking up on me? You’re gonna give me a heart attack one of these days, woman.”  


Betty smirks. “Who’s spacing out now?”

Jughead laughs, giving the counter another wipe. “So, what happened with Dramatic Exit Susan over there?”

“Oh my God, good one. I’ll add it to the board when I go down for my fifteen,” Betty says, letting out a raucous laugh as she straightens up the wrapping supplies in their cubbies below the register.

“Will she beat Menorah Scrooge for the worst customer of the day?” Jughead asks in an announcer voice. “Only time will tell.”  


Betty glances at the clock. “We still have six hours to go, but I think Dramatic Exit Susan definitely beats Menorah Scrooge. She somehow managed to insult both our outfits in the process.” 

As a way of letting out their frustrations with terrible customers, one night after closing in October Betty and Jughead had started a running list of nicknames for their worst customers on the whiteboard in the break room located in the store’s basement. The best part is thinking of creative names for their foes. The game quickly caught on, and now the six of them who regularly work at the Williamsburg location are constantly ranking the customers by day and week. The game is becoming especially competitive during the holiday season, the whiteboard increasingly scrawled with nicknames, brackets, and snarky illustrations from Kevin. 

It really is a good thing their owner, a terrifying skinny blonde woman named Penny Peabody who lives on the Upper East Side, rarely bothers to leave Manhattan to check on her lowest-traffic store in Brooklyn.

Jughead looks Betty’s outfit up and down: it’s her typical get-up, a striped pink-and-brown sweater and jeans. “Yeah, what were you thinking, wearing this monstrosity today, Betts?” Jughead jokes.

Betty is about to think of a comeback, but Veronica is approaching, holding a stone pendant from one of the jewelry cases delicately in her hands. 

“This lovely lady will be purchasing this,” Veronica interrupts, gesturing toward a college-age woman standing beside her. “Go all out for her with the wrapping, it’s her first Christmas with her girlfriend.” Veronica places a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder. 

The woman blushes. “Well, Christmas for me. Hanukkah for her,” she explains.

“Good luck,” Veronica coos as she leaves to return to her perch near the jewelry case, her usual spot thanks to her penchant for upselling. 

“So, the gift is for Chrismukkah, if you will,” Betty says to the customer, making them all laugh as she pulls out a gift box and waits for Jughead to ring up the necklace. “We’ll make it look really pretty. Is this her birthstone?” 

The girl nods, watching in awe as Betty snips the tag before cutting two little slits in the cotton and nestling the delicate chain into the slits so it hangs perfectly across the open box.  


“Wow, how long have you been doing this?” the customer asks as she slips her card into their chip reader.

“Too long,” Betty jokes. “Should I wait for a gift receipt to put in the bottom of the box?”

The girl shakes her head, looking confident as she signs her name on the screen. “No gift receipt needed. She’s gonna love it.”

Jughead claps his hands together as Betty closes the box and begins wrapping. “That’s the spirit!” he says.

Betty splurges a bit, attaching one of the little paper snowflakes they reserve for high-price purchases to the box under the ribbon. “She’s gonna love it,” she says as she shows it to the girl and hands the bag to her.

“Thank you all so much for your help,” the girl says, a genuine smile on her face. “I hope you all have a happy holiday.”

As she leaves, Betty turns to Jughead, “And then there are customers like her, who make all the shitty ones worth it.”

“Are we surprised the millennials and Gen Zers are the ones who treat us like human beings?” Jughead laughs.

“Not even a little bit.”

As if they summoned the baby boomers by their words alone, a line of middle-aged customers begins to form behind the counter. Betty and Jughead kick it into high gear, ringing and wrapping and labeling, apologizing and printing receipts and giving directions to the subway.

\- - -

Later in the day, Betty and Jughead have finally turned over register duty to Kevin and Veronica, giving their associates a break as they take over assisting a couple high-maintenance customers. 

Betty is leaning against one of their jewelry counters in the front, filling out a form for a custom monogrammed blanket. The customer is condescending, but she’s currently walking around the store adding more items to her basket, so Betty knows she can’t really complain.  


As she looks up from the form to survey the floor and ensure everyone else is okay, her eyes linger on Jughead, across the store showing an older woman the different scarf styles they have in stock.

He has three or four different scarves draped over each arm and is positively charming the customer with his easy smile. The woman laughs at something Jughead said, and Betty takes a moment to drink him in. From a distance, his arms look toned in the sweater he’s wearing. She bites her lip. As if sensing her gaze on him, Jughead looks in her direction, catching her eye and giving her the hint of a wink before returning his attention to the customer. 

Cheryl calls out to her, breaking Betty out of her daze as her cheeks redden slightly. The redhead has clearly been trying to get her attention for a couple seconds now.

“Jeez, you’re so spacey today, girl.”

“Sorry, got a lot on my mind. Holiday blues and all.”

“If there’s anyone who can understand family drama, it’s me,” Cheryl says with the same knowing tone she uses every time she mentions the Blossom family. She never provides any more detail, as if they should already know the entire Blossom family history as general knowledge. They’ve all been too terrified to ask her to elaborate. (After all, the woman had renounced her family’s wealth, deeming it vaguely “blood money” and leaving it at that.)

“I’m going on break,” Cheryl explains, rummaging through the little cubbies behind the counter where they store their wallets and extra cash for coffee runs. “You want anything?”

“Oh my God, yes, can you get me a…”

“Ginger ale and a chocolate chip granola bar?” Cheryl guesses, already pulling her scarf and coat on. 

Betty places her hand over her heart. “You know me too well, Cheryl.”

Cheryl smiles. “Only the best for my B. I’ll be back in a bit, my loves.” 

Kevin blows her a kiss from where he’s stationed behind the register. “Don’t forget my…”

“Hershey bar with almonds and a Starbucks iced coffee.”

“Really, Kevin? Iced coffee? It’s officially December,” Betty says as she sneaks behind him to grab some tape to fix one of the “holiday sale” signs drooping in the front window.

“I’m from Massachusetts, Betty. We drink iced coffee year-round,” Kevin says.

“Barbarians,” Veronica says as she walks by with the duster, shaking her head. 

\---

It’s 9:10, a full ten minutes after close, by the time the staff has finally scooted the last customer out the door. 

Cheryl lets their very particular final customer of the night out and locks the door behind her. “No more!” she says, sighing loudly, and making Archie laugh as he sweeps the floor.

“God, that woman was insufferable,” Veronica agrees as she straightens the front table displays. “Cheryl, can you straighten the front jewelry case for me, babe?”

“I got you, V,” Cheryl says.

Betty looks over the clipboard on which they keep track of closing tasks. Despite being relatively busy until the last minute, Kevin and Archie had managed to get most of the cleaning done while Cheryl and Veronica charmed their last customers into purchasing items. 

Jughead is downstairs, grabbing boxes and wrapping paper from their store room. Betty surveys their progress, wanting to let her staff leave as soon as she can. Kevin is finishing up Swiffering the floor now. Veronica has completed her straightening and is now leaning in close to Archie, her hand gripping one of his biceps with the same possessiveness that has made it obvious to all of them for months that Archie and Veronica are fucking, though they’ve never openly admitted it to anyone.

Cheryl is finishing straightening across the store, and she meets Betty’s eye as they share a look about Archie and Veronica. Jughead comes back upstairs just as Kevin finishes his task, putting away the Swiffer. 

Betty smiles at Jughead as he rounds the counter to join her. They both crouch down to put the new boxes and wrapping in their place under the counter.

Jughead pauses to let his eyes linger on the curve of Betty’s breasts in her tight sweater, her face screwed up in concentration as she methodically places the wrapping in its place. She meets his gaze, smirking before standing up abruptly. Jughead shakes his head, though still smiling, as he finishes the task and stands up to join her.

Their associates are all standing around the counter, waiting to be dismissed. 

“You guys can get out of here,” Jughead says and Betty nods beside him. 

“Thanks for all your help today, as always,” Betty adds as they all put on their coats and scarves. 

Veronica is already whispering in Archie’s ear as they all line up next to the door. Jughead holds it open for them as they leave, watching Archie and Veronica link arms the second they walk into the Brooklyn streets. He shakes his head. Seriously, who do they think they’re fooling? 

Jughead clicks the lock into place behind them, taking a deep breath as he turns to face Betty. She’s behind the register, counting the money in her usual, well-practiced routine. Though she says nothing, he catches her licking her lips as she looks at him out of the corner of her eye. 

Jughead comes around the counter, brushing his arm against hers as he reaches for the credit card receipts from the day sitting next to their deposit bag. Betty blushes at the touch, but doesn’t let it break her concentration as she finishes her methodical counting and enters numbers into the point of sale system. She runs the end of day totals, tearing the receipt off the machine and looking over the thin white paper while Jughead sorts the receipts. 

“Good day?” Jughead asks lowly, breaking the silence as he hands the stack of receipts to Betty.

His voice is gruff, seductive. Betty immediately tenses in anticipation. Their fingers brush as she takes the receipts and quickly staples her end of day totals to the stack. 

“We did well,” she says.

“Thanks to you, no doubt,” Jughead says. “You really commanded the floor today. Kept a careful eye on...everything.” He lets his eyes linger again on her tight sweater before trailing down her long legs in those equally tight jeans. 

Betty swallows, watching him blatantly take her in. 

“Did you like what you saw?” Jughead asks when she says nothing, meeting her gaze.

Unable to take it anymore, Betty grabs Jughead by his red sweater, dragging him to the one corner behind the counter she knows the security camera doesn’t reach. She looks around her one last time for good measure before pulling his face to hers and capturing his lips in a bruising kiss. Jughead enthusiastically responds, his hands cupping her face as she lets out all the tension from the day, moaning quietly into his mouth as she lets her arms wrap around his neck.

“I win,” Jughead says as they finally pull back, a flush covering both their faces.

Betty cocks her head back and narrows her eyes. “Win what?”

“Don’t you remember? I bet you last night that you wouldn’t make it until we were out of the store today before you gave in and kissed me,” Jughead says with an obnoxious, boyish grin.

“It’s so hard,” Betty whines, rubbing her hands up and down his arms. He looks so good in his red sweater, and she had been trying not to openly stare at him all day. 

“I know it’s hard, Betts, but we agreed on Black Friday,” Jughead reminds her, pulling her tighter into him.

Betty nods, sighing as she remembers the conversation they’d had on the busiest shopping day of the year.

**_november 23rd_ ** __

_It was 10 PM on Black Friday, and Betty and Jughead had officially survived the hell of working at a gift shop on the official start of the holiday season. The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table in Betty’s studio apartment, picking at leftover pumpkin pie and commiserating about the busy Friday.  
_

_Jughead had asked the question first, at a lull in the conversation. They were tucking into a not-uncomfortable silence, both fresh out of insults for their difficult Black Friday customers._

_“So…” Jughead said, clearing his throat. “Can I ask where we stand with...us?”_

_He forced himself to look into Betty’s eyes, terrified at what she would say. “We’ve been seeing each other outside of work nearly every day this month,” he reminded her, gulping even as he reached a hand across the table to clasp hers, when he saw that Betty was gazing back at him, her lips curled in a smile that reached her eyes._

_Betty turned that smile toward their intertwined hands, beaming at the thought of how quickly they’d fallen into this natural routine of being together almost every night. “It’s been amazing,” she admitted. “I don’t want it to end.”_

_Betty watched a look of utter relief cross Jughead’s face before he was cupping Betty’s face and taking her lips in a passionate kiss. “I’m falling so hard for you, Betty Cooper,” he said as he pulled back. “I want us to be...serious. Like, boyfriend and girlfriend serious.”_

_Betty laughed. “You asking me out, Jones?”_

_“I am,” he said. “Are you accepting?”_

_“You know I am,” Betty said, leaning forward and tracing Jughead’s stubble with her fingers. They both paused, the obvious awkward subject of work hanging in the air between them until Betty finally gave in. “So...are we gonna finally tell people at work?”_

_Jughead sighed, leaning back and scrubbing a hand across his face. “I don’t know. It’s just...such a stressful time at work, Betts. This is both our first Christmas season taking care of the store without a manager above us.”_

_Betty nodded. He was right. They were only keyholders, but they were running the show this year, with their venomous boss Penny Peabody deciding their Williamsburg store didn’t get enough traffic to warrant paying one of her salaried managers to cover the store. When the manager who usually covered the Williamsburg store left for maternity leave in September, Penny didn’t bother replacing her. Instead, Betty and Jughead would handle the store most days at their hourly rate. Betty and Jughead both had some choice words to say about this arrangement, but at least they were getting full-time hours for the entire holiday season._

_Nevertheless, the first month of the holiday season had been hard. That’s right, in retail—and especially at a gift shop—Christmas is basically the entirety of November and December. They’d had Christmas music and decorations in the store for a full month already, and there had been a lot of road bumps with getting Archie and Veronica to take them seriously as the season kicked into full gear. It was both their first holiday season working in retail and they had underestimated how much busier and more intense the days could be, used to the relative ease of the summer months when they’d first started at Hidden Fern. As a result, there had been more than a few moments in the last few weeks when Jughead and Betty found themselves having trouble striking the balance between co-workers/friends and supervisors who needed their associates to get their shit together and keep the store running smoothly so they could save them all from Penny’s wrath._

_It occurred to both Betty and Jughead that the holiday season was their real shot at ensuring Penny didn’t close their location in the new year. They’d never spoken of it in the store, never told their associates. They’d really only dared to whisper about it, laying side by side late at night in bed. During a surprise drop-by in October, Penny had heavily implied that the Williamsburg location was just on the precipice of not being profitable enough to keep open, walking around the store inspecting every display with an evil look on her face.  
_

_Sitting at Betty’s kitchen table on Black Friday, it felt like they’d barely survived. The last thing they needed now was for everyone to be distracted by the fact that their two supervisors were doing the dirty._

_“So, what do we do?” Betty asked. “Continue dating secretly?”_

_Jughead nodded solemnly. “I think we have to, Betts. I don’t like it, but we can tell them soon. After Christmas.”_

_Betty nodded along with him before smirking. “You don’t like it, Jug? Really? No part of you enjoys sneaking around?”_

_She stood up and walked toward him, launching herself into his lap. He smirked, running his hands up and down her jean-covered thighs as she tugged his beanie off and fisted her hands in his hair. “You think it’s sexy, keeping this secret, don’t you?” Betty asked, her voice deliciously seductive._

_Without a moment’s hesitation, Jughead picked Betty up and walked them to her bed, peppering kisses along her neck as Betty giggled._

Back in their favorite corner of the store, Betty smiles at the memory. “You’re right, Juggie. It’s just getting so hard to hide my feelings for you at this point. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m really into you.” She wraps her arms around his neck and he smiles down at her.

“You know I want everyone to see how happy we are together,” he says. “But this is too stressful of a time to deal with the gossip and teasing, not to mention compromising what meager authority we hold the store together with.”

“And we can avoid whatever HR form we have to fill out for another month,” Betty pipes in, nodding her agreement.

“Exactly,” Jughead rubs Betty’s arms soothingly. “We just have to make it to Christmas, Betts.”

“Make it to Christmas,” Betty repeats, closing her eyes as she nudges her forehead against Jughead’s. “We can do it.”


	2. in the air (there’s a feeling of christmas)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as december continues busily on, betty and jughead find time for themselves on betty's bed and in the break room - while dodging the suspicions of cheryl and veronica.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops my life is super busy and my bughead secret santa fic took precedent but hey! i managed to outline this entire story way back at the beginning of december, so i’m forging ahead into the new year with whoever else is along for the ride! this chapter got a little smuttier, bc like, come on, secret relationship! i hope to have chapters 3 and 4 up as soon as i can and then i’ll be returning to focusing on “exhale,” my bughead stoner au.
> 
> hope y’all enjoy, sorry for the wait! xoxo, maria

_Betty will never forget the first day she met Jughead._

_She had been told for weeks that a keyholder from another location would be transferred to Williamsburg when Midge, her very pregnant manager, went on her six-month maternity leave at the end of September. But it wasn’t until a mid-September morning that she learned anything about him. He was scheduled for a closing shift that afternoon to finally meet Betty and start learning the ropes at the new location._

_“His name is...Jughead,” Midge sounded out the foreign-sounding name as she scanned the email from Penny. “He’s been in the East Village store for a year.”  
_

_Throughout the morning they made jokes about his ridiculous name, but that all flew out the window for Betty within minutes of meeting Jughead. Promptly at 2 PM, the bell on the front door dinged and Betty looked up from where she was tagging greeting cards at the front counter. She locked eyes with him immediately and his expression softened as he took her in._

__

_Betty’s mouth went dry. That very summer she’d helped Midge hire the toned Adonis that was Archie Andrews and hadn’t even flinched. Regularly rejected conventionally attractive dudes when she went out for drinks with Veronica and Cheryl. She was picky, to say the least, and never had she laid eyes on someone and so immediately been attracted to them. This man, with his unruly, dark mop of hair and piercing blue eyes, captivated her in a way no one ever had before._

_“Are you Betty?” Jughead asked, approaching the counter. Betty swore there was a hopeful tint to his voice. (Weeks later, tangled up in bed together, Jughead confirmed this was true. The second he locked eyes on her, his mind had been filled with ‘please let this be Betty. She doesn’t look pregnant so I mean it probably is but maybe she’s some sort of mythical angel figure who can be pregnant and look like this.’)_

_“That’s me,” Betty said, smiling and extending a hand across the counter. “And you’re Jughead?”_

_Jughead was impressed by her firm shake. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out. Or ask for the real one.”_

_“It’s a nickname? Really?” Betty asked, quirking her eyebrows in amusement._

_“I’m nothing if not filled with surprises, Betty,” he said._

_“And wit, I can see. We’ll get along just fine.”_

_They were interrupted by Midge coming up from the break room. “You must be Jughead!” The two shook hands, Betty trying to concentrate on her tagging to keep from blatantly staring at him._

_“Betty, take a break from that and show him around. Especially where all the backstock is. I’ll cover,” Midge said, replacing Betty behind the counter._

_That first afternoon went by quickly. Jughead was impressed by the backstock-labelling system Betty had invented on a very slow Sunday in January. Betty was similarly floored by Jughead’s hilarious habit of naming rude customers after they’d left the store._

_By the time Midge left at 6 PM, Betty and Jughead had already fallen into an easy routine at the counter. As Betty went over the location’s closing procedure that night and they counted the register together for the first time, Betty and Jughead figured out they were both writers.'_

_As she was walking home from the subway later that night, Betty tried not to get too ahead of herself. They worked together, after all! But she was excited. It had been so long since she’d connected with anyone who shared her passion for the written word. They hadn’t gotten a chance to go too in-depth about their writing, but it was almost better this way. Betty let herself stew in the excitement and fantasies of what she’d learn about Jughead when they got a chance to work together again._

_Without knowing it, over the next weeks, Penny Peabody played matchmaker. She settled on the idea of having her manager who floated between locations, Valerie Brown, cover their store one and a half days a week, leaving Betty and Jughead to cover the rest of the shifts amongst themselves and their associates. At first, they scheduled themselves overlapping shifts because there was simply too much to do preparing for the holiday turnover coming in late October. But as the days and weeks passed, they found themselves drawn to sharing shifts for other reasons._

_They got to know each other behind the Hidden Fern counter, many days passing with Betty entering an invoice at the register while Jughead tagged new merchandise on the other side of their long front counter and Cheryl or Veronica or Kevin dutifully covered the sales floor. Most days, Betty and Jughead opened together and closed together. (And, of course, made many jokes about their lack of personal lives in the hours in between.)_

_By the time they started seeing each other, Betty and Jughead would often send their sales associates home right at closing time to get moments alone downstairs. Even though they were on the same plane professionally so there was no creepy subordinate/superior dynamic going on, they feared what would happen if Penny found out. So they’d kept it hidden. For...months, weeks...well, Betty and Jughead argued about when their “thing,” for lack of a better term, had really started._

_Fueled by her only growing attraction to their new co-worker, a couple weeks after he started, Betty made sure Jughead knew that everyone at the Williamsburg location was going to happy hour after work. Jughead gave her a lingering stare after she invited him, a twinkle in his eye as he said, “I’ll definitely try to make it.”_

_He showed up an hour late, but was stuck to Betty’s side practically the entire night. They shut the bar down, the bartender yelling “last call” practically in their ears. Betty’s hand rested on her elbow as she leaned toward him, eyes glued to each other as they talked endlessly, a never-ending conversation about writing and books and their work frustrations.  
_

_Earlier in the night, Betty and Jughead had laughed for a good minute when they realized how much they had in common. In fact, Jughead had steadied her gently with his arm, both of them laughing as she swayed on the barstool._

__

_“Time for me to drink some water, I think,” she’d said as he flagged down the bartender for her._

_They were writers, that they’d already known. Now they had also bonded over being deep in debt from college, both caught in that forever tango of barely scraping by: Betty freelancing whenever she could, writing articles for magazines and digital verticals, Jughead working on his “great American novel,” the same one he’d been tackling since after college. He was also theoretically saving up for an MFA program but he couldn’t even imagine getting there any time soon considering the sizeable student debt payments and meager wages Penny paid them._

_After that night, Betty would look for any excuse to close with Jughead alone._

_(After that night, it was only a matter of time.)_

_“I’m gonna hunker down with a bottle of red and a tub of cookie dough to finish and finally send off that pitch I was telling you about,” Betty said one mid-October night, clutching her keys and purse in hand as she waited for Jughead to finish replacing the breakroom garbage so they could head out for the night._

_Jughead looked up at Betty, smiling, as he tied the red plastic drawstrings into a perfect knot. “I see your wine and cookie dough and raise you a HotPocket and a tallboy of ‘Gansett,” Jughead said, smirking._

_Betty threw her head back laughing and Jughead took the chance to drink her in, somehow still glowing after nearly ten hours of grueling retail work. Betty started walking upstairs and Jughead followed, turning off lights in her wake._

_As they headed across the store to the front door, flipping off switches as they went, Betty turned to face Jughead, a playful smile fixed across her face. “Hey, you never said what you’re working on tonight?”_

_Jughead grinned, stopping in his usual place next to the security alarm. “You know I’m taking another stab at reworking chapter three,” he said, locking eyes with Betty as he referred to his novel. “To match the change I made in chapter seven last week.”_

_“Good,” Betty said, holding his gaze as she gave him one of those soft smiles that always left him wanting more. Betty took her place by the door with keys outstretched as he shook his head, smiling, and finally punched in the security code._

_From there, whether conscious of it or not, the two upped their flirting throughout October until the tension became almost unbearable. Learning more about each other also meant learning each other’s ticks. Forming jokes that somehow led to lingering touches. One catching the other staring a little too long and the other not having the willpower to tear away._

_Everything finally came to a head at the companywide Halloween party Penny was throwing at a hip, cramped bar in lower Manhattan. It wasn’t exactly Halloween, but October 27._

_In a narrow hallway lit by vintagey looking lamp fixtures, Jughead and Betty encountered each other, both looking for an escape from the too-sweet cocktails and swanky, over-the-top atmosphere. Standing opposite each other, forced to face the obvious fact that in order to reach their respectively labeled bathrooms one would have to push past the other, they finally gave in. Betty grabbed Jughead’s face in her hands as his arms tightened themselves possessively around her frame. They channeled months of heated gazes and little touches, shared jokes and late-night, forbidden thoughts into that first kiss, both panting as their mouths came together. Jughead pushed open the door to the bathroom behind them with his back, and Betty practically shoved him the rest of the way in, kicking the door shut behind them._

_“Aggressive,” Jughead growled into her mouth._

_Betty shut him up with a kiss, a new trick that would soon become habit._

_That first night of heated making out in a bar bathroom would seem to mark a new era—had it not been partially fueled by alcohol, and had Betty and Jughead not both been in the habit of overthinking everything._

_For four days, Betty and Jughead were too scared to talk about their incredibly sexy encounter at the Halloween party, acting seemingly normal during the first days of store turnover, when the location remained open but they slowly began to unpack ornaments and tinsel and lights, gradually readying themselves for their big turnover day on November 1._

_On the actual day of Halloween, Jughead finally took matters into his own hands, sending Archie and Kevin home right at close while Betty was downstairs grabbing boxes and extra wrapping. Jughead was determined that they wouldn’t leave the store today without talking about their kiss._

_He approached Betty as she was counting the register, her eyes flicking up to meet his._

_“Can we talk?” he asked, so quiet and purposeful that it stirred something in the bottom of Betty’s stomach._

_Betty nodded. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”_

_He waited until she’d stored the deposit and receipts into the safe, watching her turn the lock as she did every night._

_Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up. “I can’t stop thinking about you,” she said, so quietly Jughead briefly wondered if he’d imagined it._

_She crossed to where Jughead was standing near the coat rack, and he immediately reached forward, bringing her into his arms as if she’d always belonged there._

_“I can’t stop thinking about you either,” Jughead said._

_He leaned down and kissed her, purposefully and a little desperately. She reached up to grab his face, intensifying the kiss. When they pulled back minutes later, they were both a little dazed to find the break room staring back at them._

_“Come back to my place?” Betty asked. A blush tinted her cheeks but her voice was all confidence._

_And so the story went: they’d been secretly dating ever since._

  


**december 2nd**  
_23 days till christmas_

Waking up with a smile on her face is something Betty has only recently become used to. Jughead’s arms are wrapped around her frame, pulling her close and making her feel safe. It was the way they’d fallen asleep last night, Jughead whispering dirty talk in her ear as Betty murmured sleepily, “Too tired, maybe in the morning.”  


She grins at the memory, nuzzling in closer to Jughead’s warmth and letting her eyes float closed again. She must’ve woken up before her alarms.

\---

“Mmm.”

Betty wakes again, this time to the gentle touch of Jughead’s tongue at her collarbone. She lets her eyes float open in time to catch Jughead’s questioning eyebrow raise. She nods and giggles, gingerly pushing his face downward. His lips quirk into a satisfied smile before continuing his tongue’s assault on her neck and letting his fingers travel ever downward.

“Have you been thinking about me, baby?” he whispers as he ghosts his fingers over her thighs, making her legs shake. She watches in hushed, aroused anticipation as he nears ever closer to where she wants him.

“You know I have,” she manages to whisper back, closing her eyes as she pictures the delicious pleasure to come when he finally stops his teasing.

“Oh, I can tell,” he practically growls, finally pushing into her folds, finding her wet and ready. Betty lets out a groan, lifting her hips off the bed. Jughead smirks before removing his fingers to Betty’s frustration.

She opens her eyes and realizes the position she’s in: hands fisted in the sheets, legs spread wide and ready for Jughead as he gazes at her in adoration, slowly bringing his fingers to his mouth. She locks eyes with him as he sucks, licking her lips and silently challenging him to return his attentions to her.

“You want this?” Jughead asks, shaping his fingers in a curling motion as he maintains eye contact, a teasing smirk crossing his face.

“Jughead,” Betty whines, spreading her legs wide. “I want you.” 

Jughead licks his lips, unable to resist her. “Okay, I’ll give you what you want…” he begins, but his eye catches the red letters of Betty’s alarm clock. “Oh, fuck, what does that clock say?”

Betty bolts up. They’re both opening today (“clopening should be illegal” is basically Betty and Jughead’s catchphrase, yet they both clopen more than anyone else at their Hidden Fern location, of course.) Betty squints at the alarm clock before flopping on the bed in a fit of horny defeat. “I need to get in the shower,” she says dejectedly.

Jughead gets to his feet and holds out a hand to Betty. “I think we’ll save water if we shower together, won’t we?”

Betty smirks at the seductive glint in his eyes. She’s never showered with any of her boyfriends before, but she’s done a lot of new things since she and Jughead started dating. 

As they let the water warm up, Jughead has Betty stripped down and spread-eagled for him on the toilet seat, finally letting his fingers curl inside her as she lets out a scream. 

“Those neighbors really must hate us,” Jughead whispers in her ear as he adds a second finger, leaving Betty breathlessly moaning his name. 

She laughs, punctuated by another deep moan. “They mostly hate me. I’m the loud one,” she breathes out as Jughead continues to stroke her, bringing her closer to the edge.

He leans forward, placing a soft kiss on her forehead as he feels her tense around his fingers. “Come for me, Betts,” he breaths into her ear as she cries out, tangling her hands through his hair as she continues to ride Jughead’s fingers through her orgasm.

He kisses her on the cheek and Betty looks up at him, a wild look in her eyes. She cocks her head in the direction of the shower, now fogged up. “Return the favor?” she asks and Jughead obediently follows her.

Under the steam, Betty drops to her knees in front of Jughead and he looks down at her in awe, a blush rising on her cheeks. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers. 

She smiles up at him before turning her attention to the task at hand. She has him in her mouth before Jughead can catch his breath and he holds onto the cool tile of the wall for balance, groaning. She’s too good at this, has been since the first time he’d slept over her house, when she’d made him come so fast he’d spent the whole night apologizing. (Betty had finally suggested that if he really wanted to make it up to her, he could shut up and put his mouth between her legs. Believe it or not, it worked.)

Once again, Betty has him at his climax within minutes, wiping her hand across her face with a satisfied smirk as he leans down to clean himself up.

Betty begins shampooing her hair, closing her eyes as she lets the warm water wash away yesterday’s dirt and stress. Jughead lathers his hands with soap and traces soft circles into Betty’s back. “Mmm,” Betty murmurs, letting her head fall back.

Jughead leans down to kiss Betty, comforting under the warm stream, before they finish rinsing and finally turn the shower off. 

“Back to reality?” Betty jokes as she dries her hair at her desk.

“Another day at the mines,” Jughead agrees, laughing and toweling himself off as Betty combs through her wet hair across the room.

Betty glances at her calendar. “We’re on with Cheryl this morning,” she remarks.

Jughead nods approvingly. “She may be a pain in my ass, but Cheryl gets her shit done.”

Betty laughs. “It’ll be good to have her on the floor while we take care of that big shipment that came in yesterday afternoon,” she says, standing in front of her closet to choose an outfit. 

“Absolutely, that thing’s gonna take all morning,” Jughead says, absently choosing a t-shirt from the dresser drawer Betty had cleared for him a couple weeks earlier. (The drawer was quickly becoming stuffed with clothes.)

As she pulls a blue shirt dress over her head, Betty takes a moment to appreciate the routine she’s quietly slipped into over the last couple weeks. She smiles as she turns to her vanity and picks out a pair of earrings.

“I love our mornings together,” she says without thinking. 

Jughead crosses the room to her, taking her in his arms and bumping her forehead with his own. “If only we didn’t have to go be slaves to capitalism, they would be perfect,” he agrees.

“At least we’re slaves to capitalism together, baby,” Betty whispers, reaching up to kiss him gently. Jughead grabs her face in his hands, deepening the kiss. They both beam at each other as they pull back. 

“We gotta get out of here,” Betty sighs. They both stoop down to pick up their coats, discarded haphazardly on the floor the night before thanks to the combined powers of sexual chemistry and retail-induced exhaustion. 

As Betty locks the door behind them and they head for the subway, Betty thinks about something she’d written in her journal just a few days before: _There’s something different about our relationship. I’ve known this for awhile, but I think I finally figured it out: we’re best friends AND lovers._

\---

They manage to snag two seats on the subway. Jughead pulls up _The New York Times_ on his phone and they scan the headlines together, firing jokes and commentary at each other even as Betty rests her head on Jughead’s shoulder. 

Joining the throng of commuters pushing their way out of the Bedford Avenue L stop, Jughead slips his hand through Betty’s even as they both dart their eyes wildly around the station to ensure none of their co-workers are in view. As they emerge onto the street, Betty reluctantly lets go of Jughead’s hand. 

“See you at the store,” Jughead says, flashing her one last smile as they walk in opposite directions.

This is their usual routine. Jughead picks up coffee for everyone who’s opening, and Betty goes ahead to open the store. No one will ever suspect that they traveled to work from Betty’s apartment together or that they’d given each other two orgasms apiece since they’d closed Hidden Fern the night before. At least, that’s what they’re counting on.

Only five minutes after Betty lets herself into the store and begins counting the register, Cheryl taps at the front door. Betty beams when she sees her redheaded friend waiting on the other side of the glass, running quickly to let her in.

“Morning, B!” Cheryl says, surprisingly cheerful for the early hour.

Betty returns to counting the register as Cheryl heads to the basement to hang up her coat. Satisfied with the count, Betty starts up the point of sale system as Cheryl returns to the floor, a smile still fixed on her face. It’s almost unnerving for someone who usually only appears content when she’s gotten away with something devious.

“What’s got you so happy today, Cheryl?” Betty asks, laughing.

Cheryl shakes her head. “Can’t a girl be happy for no reason?”

“‘A girl,’ sure. Cheryl Blossom? Hell no.”

Cheryl’s mouth splits into a grin yet again. “You caught me, B.” She reaches across the counter to give her a playful smack on the arm. “You know me too well.”

“That I do. So what happened? Did you get laid?”

Cheryl pouts. “That would be even better. If I’d gotten laid, I would’ve brought in doughnuts.”

“You can text Jughead and ask him to get you one,” Betty pipes in.

Cheryl narrows her eyes at Betty suspiciously. “He’s getting us coffee this morning? How do you know?”

Betty averts her eyes from Cheryl’s intense gaze. “I...don’t know, know. He just does it pretty much every morning I open with him, so I figure today will be no different.” Betty tries to keep her cool though the look on Cheryl’s face is starting to concern her.

“Right,” Cheryl says, crossing her arms. “Anyway, if you must know, I am in such a delightful mood because I’m quite the sexually satisfied vixen. That vibrator I was waiting on? It finally arrived yesterday and oh, boy, it lived up to its fabulous reviews.”

Betty laughs, a slightly horrified look on her face. “Geez, bar talk much? I’m glad we had this convo before we’re officially open for the day.”

Cheryl shakes her head. “Oh, Betty. You know I would never talk like this in front of a customer, as much as some of the more attractive ladies might make me want to.” She winks at Betty.

“Bitch, go turn on the lights,” Betty says, rolling her eyes and pointing to the other side of the room, still shrouded in darkness.

Cheryl holds her head back and laughs. “I love Sassy Keyholder Betty. Your wish is my command, my love,” she says with a faux seductive look as she crosses the room to turn on lights and straighten displays, making sure everything is ready for opening.

Betty glances at the clock. Four minutes till open. Like clockwork, Jughead taps at the door with his back, balancing three coffees on a cardboard to-go tray and winking at Betty through the door as she comes to open it for him. 

“Good morning, Jughead!” Cheryl chirps from the far corner of the room where she’s dusting off a necklace display.

Jughead shoots her a polite smile. “Good morning, Bane of My Existence,” he says, laughing and placing the coffees on the front counter. Betty takes her cappuccino and sips gratefully.

“You both love me,” Cheryl declares. “Thanks for the coffee.” She bounds over to grab her latte before returning to her methodical cleaning.

“Yeah, thanks, Jughead,” Betty quietly echoes, resisting the internal urge to call him “baby.” She really needs to chill with that at home or she’ll slip up at work.

Jughead shoots her a grin and Betty watches him head downstairs to hang up his coat. Across the room, Cheryl observes the interaction carefully, smirking as she watches Betty’s eyes trail after him. 

Betty turns back toward the floor, freezing when she sees Cheryl’s eyes locked on her, one of the aforementioned devious looks plastered across her face. She gulps, but her voice doesn’t waver. “Wanna unlock the door and bring the sign to the sidewalk, Cheryl? It’s 10.”

“As I said, B: your wish is my command,” Cheryl says, picking up their chalkboard sidewalk sign and winking at Betty on her way out the front door.

\---

The morning is relatively slow, but this is what they’d been hoping for. They instruct Cheryl to cover the floor and station themselves behind the counter, Betty successfully entering everything into the system while Jughead prints tags dutifully in her wake. 

(Betty knows this is one of Jughead’s favorite chores because their label printer is downstairs with the security camera and deposit box, and he can unabashedly watch her on the camera feed. That first night, as they’d laid side by side in bed staring into each other’s eyes, Jughead had confessed frequently volunteering for the task so he could gaze at her on the security camera without anyone noticing. “If I wasn’t totally into you too, that would be so fucking creepy, Jug,” she’d said, both of them laughing before Betty grabbed Jughead and tackled him into an embrace.)

By the time Veronica arrives for her closing shift at noon, they’ve fallen into a natural and steady rhythm: Cheryl refilling displays across the floor while Betty and Jughead tag items on opposite ends of the counter. Betty has taken over tagging the jewelry, fitting little butterfly tags over delicate chains, since Jughead always insists he’s too clumsy to tag it. Betty smirks, remembering she and Jughead’s post-coital conversation the night before.

_“We’ve got jewelry to tag tomorrow,” Betty said, tracing her fingers lightly across his chin. “Wanna take a stab at them?”_

_Jughead shook his head. “Betty, you know better than anyone that I am far too clumsy to handle those little stones and beads and tangley chains.”_

_Betty laughed. “And yet, Jughead, somehow those fingers of yours brought me endless pleasure mere moments ago.” She leaned forward and kissed him deeply in a silent bid for a round two._

Veronica pushes through the door, pulling Betty out of her thoughts. Jughead holds back a laugh at the blush that has crossed her face at the sound of the door dinging, and Betty knows he can tell she was thinking dirty thoughts. How Jughead can possibly know her this well so quickly continues to boggle Betty.

“Hello, my lovely colleagues! How are you today?” Veronica says, sauntering in with an espresso cup in hand and heading downstairs to deposit her coat.

As if it had been waiting for Veronica’s arrival to play, “Last Christmas” by Wham! comes on as Veronica clocks in at the register. 

Veronica swings her arms above her head. “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart!” she practically screeches.

Jughead and Cheryl both let out audible groans, locking eyes across the room to share a dramatic eye roll. If there’s one thing the two of them can set their differences aside over, it’s their mutual distaste for this particular Christmas song. 

Taking advantage of the current lack of customers, Veronica dances her way to the center of the floor, a serious look on her face as she follows what feels like a choreographed routine. Both Veronica and Cheryl have proudly boasted of their high school cheerleading experiences and have proven on many occasions that all it takes for either of them to whip out that particular skillset is the right song coming on shuffle.

Cheryl and Jughead both boo, only causing Veronica to continue dancing and loudly sing the verses she knows by heart. “Once bitten and twice shy! I keep my distance but you still catch my eye!” she belts out.

“Boo, bitch!” Cheryl shouts from across the room, refilling a scarf display as Jughead shakes his head and tags picture frames.

Betty laughs at the entire scene before her, allowing Veronica to twirl her around a little bit during the last chorus.

“God, Veronica. I love you to pieces, but before you started working here, I was able to keep that song off the Christmas playlist,” Cheryl says as the song finally ends and is replaced by the more soothing Nat King Cole version of the “The Christmas Song.” 

Veronica laughs, shaking her head and coming to help Cheryl restock. “Now, Cheryl, I have brought you the gift of the most fun Christmas song known to humankind,” Veronica argues. Jughead smirks from his perch behind the counter, settling in for another one of Veronica and Cheryl’s verbal battles.

“Don’t insult Mariah Carey,” Betty warns as she passes the pair on her way to display the newly tagged necklaces.

“The Queen of Christmas? We would never,” Veronica places a hand dramatically across her chest.

“Don’t distract us from the song in question. Who seconded this particular song nomination anyway?” Cheryl asks.

Veronica thinks for a second. “It was definitely Kevin. He said he was always the only one to nominate ‘Last Christmas’ before I came around.”

_**november 1st** _  
_54 days till christmas_

_The creation of the Christmas playlist at Hidden Fern traditionally occurs during lunch on November 1st. It’s the one holiday turnover day when Penny lets them close the store completely to transform the floor into a winter wonderland. It’s all hands on deck, and they change over the displays, put out seasonal merchandise, and eventually take a break to order in lunch for the entire group._

_Sitting cross-legged in a circle in the middle of the floor with empty boxes and tissue paper and bubble wrap surrounding them, the group ate the massive Mexican food order Kevin had picked up for them, taking a break to debate Christmas song titles. This was the music they’d be listening to on repeat for the next two months, the time to air grievances about particular songs and hold debates._

_And debate they did. Veronica’s taste is typical of a girl raised in a wealthy family that fell from grace when her father was arrested for a massive fraud and embezzlement scheme back in high school: she loves the classic Christmas songs, but also has a soft spot for the more pop-inspired versions._

_“Last Christmas by Wham! is a must,” Veronica said, nibbling daintily on a chip._

_“Seconded!” Kevin declared, raising his glitter-covered hand. (An aspiring influencer with the largest Instagram following of any of them, his top pick was Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me.” He’d also spent the last hour unpacking Christmas ornaments and was almost certain he’d ingested glitter along with his burrito.)_

_Cheryl and Jughead, being the resident Scrooges of the group, resisted and booed the more ridiculous Christmas songs. This year, they successfully kept “Dominic the Donkey” off the playlist while Archie fought them unsuccessfully to keep it on. For an aspiring musician, Archie had questionable music taste, and was almost too goofy for Jughead to take seriously some days._

_Jughead got up to join Betty, who had finished her food before everyone else and wandered over to the front window. “Did you have a vision?” he asked, laughing and watching her stare intently at their work in progress._

_“I did, actually.” She excitedly explained to him how they could rearrange their current display to fit two more products Penny had pointed out in her email, and his face brightened._

_“You’re a genius, Betty Cooper,” Jughead said. He glanced back at Cheryl, Kevin, Archie, and Veronica, passionately debating and arguing about Christmas songs as Kevin held the iPod out of everyone’s reach over his head. “You sure you don’t want to assert some control over this playlist situation?” he asked, grinning._

_Betty turned to look at her associates and then back at the window and Jughead. “Let them make the playlist,” Betty said softly. “We can trust Cheryl to make sure all the best ones stay on the playlist in the end.”_

_Jughead watched Betty, already totally engrossed in her new idea to transform the window display. “How can I help?”_

\---

Anyone who has worked retail for any significant amount of time knows the maddening feeling of singing the same annoyingly catchy songs day in and day out. How the songs seem to melt into your brain and play on a constant loop, whether you’re walking home or washing your hair in the shower. 

Their holiday playlist winds around again, as it often does. Around 5:50 PM, only ten minutes before Cheryl gets to leave for the day, the opening notes of “Last Christmas” by Wham! emit from the speakers.

“Encore!” Veronica shouts excitedly, pumping her fist in the air. 

Jughead raises his eyes in horror from where he’s dusting the front counter. There are only a few customers in the store and the only ones paying Veronica any attention seem amused, so Jughead relaxes, shaking his head as he shares a look with Betty. Betty shrugs and mouths, “what can we do?” just as Veronica beelines for her, a determined look in her eyes as she grabs Betty by the hand. “You’re dancing with me, Betty Cooper,” Veronica declares, and Betty doesn’t have much of a choice. They’re off.

“You too, Cherry Queen!” Veronica says, dancing herself and Betty over to Cheryl and twirling her around.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Cheryl protests but Veronica and Betty are insistent, each grabbing one of her hands as they all dance together.

Behind the counter, Jughead watches them with amusement, continuing to scan the store to ensure none of their customers need help. His eyes widen in horror when he realizes the trio of intimidating women he works with are headed in his direction. 

Betty reaches her hand out to grab his across the counter. “Come around and dance with us, Scrooge,” she says, and one look in her eyes tells him he can’t say no.

He’s taken back to two nights prior, when this song had been playing in the grocery store while they were stocking up on ice cream. Betty had busted out into a full-on dance in the empty aisle, even incorporating the freezer doors into her routine as Jughead laughed and watched her, captivated as always by the playful but serious look in her eyes every time she so much as turned his way. 

Suddenly he can’t wait for it to be 9 PM, for closing tasks to be over and the two of them locking the door to Hidden Fern behind them. They already have plans involving the bed in Betty’s studio apartment, a Christmas episode of _The Office_ , and a new salmon recipe Betty is dying to make for him. 

He lets Betty and Veronica and Cheryl sweep him up into their giddy dance number, running out the clock until he’s back in Betty’s arms.

 

**december 6th**  
_19 days till christmas_

Thursdays are their favorite days. That’s the standing day each week when Penny’s floating manager, Valerie, covers the store to give Betty and Jug a full day off. It’s meant to keep them from complaining about the six-day weeks they’re swinging. It certainly does keep a little bit of their scheduling anger at bay to have one guaranteed day a week when they don’t have to worry about hiding from their work friends.

Sometimes they like to wake up early with a “seize the day” sort of attitude. They’ll roll out of bed, shower, and drag their laptops to a coffee shop to write, maybe hit a bookstore, or run some errands. Other times, they bask in their freedom, sleeping in, maybe running some laundry in the machines in Betty’s basement, watching TV or an old movie from her laptop. 

Today, they’re too exhausted to consider anything but staying tangled up in the sheets and in each other’s warm embraces. Around 11 AM, Betty finally wakes up, feeling like she’s finally caught up on some of the sleep she’s lost over the six days since her last day off the clock. Jughead’s still fast asleep, so Betty carefully removes his arms from around her, kissing him on the forehead and slipping quietly out of bed.

In the kitchen, Betty pours water into her coffeemaker and scoops coffee grinds, letting herself relax in the quiet of the morning, with just the careful drip drip drip to accompany Jughead’s even breathing. She looks across her single room, thinking of how nice it will be if one day she and Jughead can live somewhere bigger together. She knows it’s too soon to be thinking such thoughts, but their deep and quick connection have her frequently thinking thoughts she’s never had about anyone else.

Betty tiptoes back to bed, carefully balancing two coffee cups and depositing them safely on her nightstand. She slips back into bed, kissing across Jughead’s cheeks to gently wake him. He yawns, tightening his arms back around her middle. 

“Wake up, baby,” Betty whispers. “I brought coffee.”

Jughead’s eyes finally open at her words and he takes in the two steaming mugs waiting for him on the side table before beaming at the golden-haired goddess watching him eagerly. “You are the perfect woman,” he says, leaning in to kiss her soundly. 

Betty backs up against the headboard. She sips at her coffee, still a little too warm to dive in. “Happy Thursday, Jug,” she says.

Jughead scrubs a hand across his face and groans before finally sitting up to join her. “It’s so relieving to have a day off,” Jughead says, sighing. “I love just getting to be together.”

He accepts his mug from Betty and they sip silently for a couple minutes, basking in the freedom of the day ahead of them.

“Know what would go great with this coffee?” Betty asks.

Jughead looks at her inquisitively.

“A joint perhaps?” she suggests, smiling.

Jughead is already nodding as the words leave her mouth, getting up to grab papers from her vanity. Betty pours them second mugs of coffee and makes toast as he deftly rolls at her small kitchen table. She leans back against the counter watching him, clenching her thighs together as he licks the gum of the paper.

“Behave yourself,” Jughead says without even looking at her, laughing at Betty’s sputters and protests in reply.

They head out to Betty’s fire escape with coffee mugs and pieces of buttered toast, sharing a floral blanket across their laps as they smoke the impressively large joint. (Jughead is a master roller, like any respectable liberal arts student should be, he’d said the first time he produced a joint for her in November.)

Jughead breathes out his third hit. “Have you told anyone we’re together?” he asks quietly.

Betty considers her reply. The truth is, over the years since college, Betty had grown farther apart from her friends. Some moved away, some moved up to Harlem, and she’d never been particularly close to anyone from high school.

She accepts the joint from Jughead as he takes a hearty sip of his coffee. “No one to tell,” Betty finally answers. A silence ensues as Jughead nods, watching her intently. “You?”

Jughead shrugs, looking down into the chipped pink of the mug. “Barely anyone to tell myself. A couple high school friends I’ll tell next time I see ‘em.”

“I kind of told my family I was seeing someone,” Betty admits. “To get them to shut up about someone my mom wanted to set me up with.” She rolls her eyes, passing the joint back to Jughead.

“I can’t believe she’s still doing that,” he says, breathing out a cloud of smoke into the cold December air. “Didn’t she learn her lesson from that last guy you seriously dated? Reggie Mantle?”

Betty shudders at the memory. He’d been the only Alice Cooper set-up she’d been willing to date for any extended period of time, but she’d quickly grown tired of his lewd comments toward women and general lack of interest in her writing. When she’d finally ended things he went off the handle, even throwing her notebook across the room. Though nothing had been damaged, it had been more than enough for Betty to take control of her romantic life and refuse to date anyone else she didn’t pick out herself. In the years since, no one serious had come along until Jughead, who similarly had a couple exes, but no one who had come close to Betty. 

“She’ll learn one day,” Betty says, accepting the joint again. “I won’t let it go any other way.”

Jughead grins proudly at Betty. “That’s my girl.”

They finish the joint, barely snuffing it out before they stumble back into bed and get lost in each other’s licks and kisses and nips. Betty screams his name as Jughead laughs again about the neighbors. She shuts him up with a deep kiss and then his fingers are curling inside her again and she’s crying out and he’s smiling against her neck as he pants. It feels even better when they finally have time in their grasp, hours ahead of them when they can stay curled up together, making each other see stars again and again, one of Betty’s evergreen candles burning steadily below the frosty window.

  


**december 8th**  
_17 days till christmas_

The store is bustling with customers when it happens. Betty is standing next to the front door, surveying the store and greeting new customers to ensure everything is going swimmingly, when a song comes on that she thought she’d already used her meager authority to ban.

It’s the Josh Groban version of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” 

The song begins with a series of samples from active American soldiers stationed in various locations sending messages home to their family in the U.S. who they won’t get to see for Christmas. Followed by Josh Groban’s haunting voice cutting in to remind you how sad it is that many people won’t reunite with their families for the holidays.

“I thought we took this one off!” Cheryl shrieks, immediately exchanging a horrified look with Betty from her perch across the front counter, where she’s waiting for customers to finish trying on a necklace from the case.

_I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me…_

Betty looks from Cheryl to Jughead, who’s putting the pieces together slowly. “Betty, quickly!” he shouts to her from where he’s mid-ringing up a customer behind the register.

She wants to run across the store, but just then a group of ten customers, clearly European tourists, come streaming through the door. Betty keeps the door held open for them, trying to smile sweetly and not look impatient as she tries to move around them, but they keep coming.

Josh Groban’s voice fades into soldiers explaining in great detail how they’re going to miss watching their children open up presents on Christmas morning, that they’ll miss the looks of joy on their faces. Jughead shakes his head, unable to reach the iPod as he faces a seemingly ever-growing line of customers waiting to check out. He rings up an item, exchanging an awkward smile with the customer standing before him as the voices of soldiers begin to fill the air again.

_I’d like to wish my family and friends back in West Virginia a Merry Christmas…_

Betty scrambles across the store, shouting quick “excuse me”’s and “let us know if you need help with anything”’s to customers as she navigates skillfully around mothers and children, displays and tables, in her beeline toward their iPod.

“It’s too late,” Veronica says, pointing across the room. Archie is crying, sitting at the top of the stairs to the basement, apparently unable to go on. “I must go comfort him,” she says determinedly, sauntering to the back of the room.

_I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams…_

Jughead rolls his eyes as two of their associates have now left the sales floor, but then notices a customer at the back of the checkout line dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “Oh, no. Betty, hurry up,” he whispers to himself as he boxes a bracelet.

The sad interlude is coming back, the voices of children filling the store with messages to their parents who aren’t coming home for the holidays.

_We miss you a lot and we hope you can come soon…_

Betty finally reaches the iPod and quickly hits “next,” a pop song coming on to replace the most depressing Christmas song of all time. All the associates breathe out sighs of relief. Betty makes her way to the top of the stairs, where Veronica has Archie in her arms, whispering “shh” as tears roll down his cheeks. 

“Is he okay?” Betty whispers.

“He’ll be fine,” Veronica says gently back. “Mommy issues.”

Archie lets out a fresh wail and Betty nods at Veronica, trying not to laugh as she heads back to the front counter where Jughead is hiding behind the register as he cracks up.

Cheryl rolls her eyes. “This happened last year too, with that customer who wouldn’t leave for hours because she was so triggered,” she says, shaking her head as Betty sighs, throwing her head in her hands as the familiar trill of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe” fills the air instead.

\---

Betty and Jughead have to stay late that night to tag the shipment of Christmas cards they had been desperately waiting for, which had come in only a couple hours before close. The store had been busy all day long to Betty and Jughead’s delight, so they resolved to tag over dinner.

Jughead pulls up the security footage from earlier in the day and they watch Archie burst into tears again while Betty runs heroically across the room dodging customers to turn off the music, both laughing hysterically at the juxtaposition. The table is littered with rolls of price tags and takeout containers.

“Cheers to being overworked,” Betty says, shaking her head at their mess and waiting for Jughead’s sarcastic reply.

He grins, looking like he’s about to fire back with one of his biting remarks, but instead he seems to stop himself. He bumps his takeout container to hers. “Cheers to being overworked with my favorite person,” he says softly, holding her gaze.

Betty leans forward and he meets her halfway as their lips touch, moving together in a way that feels like coming home every time.

 

**december 9th**  
_16 days till christmas_

It’s another busy weekend day at the store and Betty can’t hide how stressed out she feels. Thankfully, she’s stationed herself behind the register where she feels most in control. Veronica is packing and wrapping beside her, shooting Betty occasional reassuring looks and eyerolls, which helps Betty keep from panicking altogether as she smiles at customers, ringing up their items and making holiday small talk.

Things have slowed down a bit, a necessary mid-afternoon lull that gives Betty and Veronica a minute to turn to each other and whisper about their more annoying recent customers. Out of the corner of her eye, Betty can see that Archie and Jughead have the far side of the floor covered while Kevin and Cheryl have each positioned themselves at the door and behind the front display counter.

“We’re good, V,” Betty says, as much to herself as to Veronica, who nods next to her just as two men in fancy suits plant themselves before the register.

“How can we help you gentlemen today?” Veronica simpers, putting on a cautiously flirtatious smile without missing a beat.

The Cheshire cat grin that breaks out on the front man’s face makes Betty’s stomach coil with anxiety. He leans forward, resting his elbows on the counter as he stares at them both with a greedy look in his eyes. “We were actually wondering what time you two beautiful creatures get off tonight.” 

Archie is crossing the room within seconds, Jughead hot on his heels. Unbeknownst to Betty and Veronica, the second those two dudes approached the counter, both Archie and Jughead’s eyes had narrowed. Some very defensive instinct had been triggered in both of them.

“I’m gonna have to ask you two to leave,” Jughead says, not even realizing his hand had curled into a fist.

Betty notices though, trying to hide her shock as a blush covers her face and her thighs involuntarily clench together.

“Why?” the man challenges. “I’m just talking to your gorgeous sales associates here. Kudos on hiring them.”

That sets Betty off, snapping her back into the moment. “He and I are both in charge here,” she corrects, practically spitting at him with her trademark defiant fierceness. “And we need you to leave. Harassing our sales associates is unacceptable behavior.”

The second man shakes his head. “Big mistake. You’re losing quite the loyal customers.” He takes a long minute to leer at Betty and Veronica, greedily staring at both their bodies. “I always buy my girls jewelry from here.” Both Betty and Veronica shake under the man’s intrusive gaze, their faces screwing up in disgust.

“Get the fuck out,” Archie says, pushing past Jughead to get closer to the men. 

“Calm down, Archie,” Jughead says, patting Archie’s back with his hand in a meager attempt to de-escalate the situation.

“Hit me up when you want a real man,” the first man says, dropping his card on the counter in front of Betty and Veronica before glaring one more time at Jughead and Archie.  


Jughead follows close behind the dudes, hurrying them along. He continues glaring menacingly at their backs as he closes the door definitively behind them. He practically growls, “Fuck those guys.”

Betty bites her lip, glad that Archie is embracing Veronica so she can’t see the blush crossing her face at how much Jughead’s jealousy and defensiveness had turned her on.  


Jughead locks eyes with Betty and mouths, “Are you okay?”

She nods, maintaining eye contact with Jughead as she rips the business card in half and throws it in the trash. 

Archie pulls back from Veronica, murmuring that he has to go to the bathroom. Betty busies herself with customers again, two of whom are asking if she’s okay as Jughead paces the floor angrily, trying to get himself out of the mood the encounter has put him in. 

Meanwhile, Veronica remains behind the counter, waiting for customers to check out and watching Jughead pace. She’s perplexed by the scowl that has taken residence across his face since those men had left.

In the months since Veronica and Archie had both started at Hidden Fern, Veronica has become used to Archie puffing out his chest and challenging any men who try to hit on her while she’s working...and when they go out after work. But she’s never seen that fierce, defensive scowl on Jughead before. _Can it be?_ Veronica wonders to herself. _Does Jughead have a crush on Betty?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *comes out from hiding* so, what did y’all think? Leave me a comment if you liked it!
> 
> PS: I’ll have y’all know that Josh Groban song was on the xmas playlist at my first retail job and all of us hated it! We’d turn it off all the time because we’d tear up during work and we were like THIS IS EMOTIONAL TORTURE WHILE ON THE CLOCK. So I knew I needed to include it when I started writing this fic ;) hope people find it as amusing as i did!

**Author's Note:**

> Can I just say how relieving it is to write a fic that isn’t a slow burn?! I love “Exhale” more than anything, it’s my baby and I’ve got lots more story to tell but I was so excited to participate in the Reindeer Games to stretch my muscles a little and tell a different story! Hope y’all liked it, dropped a comment & tell me what you thought! XOXO, Maria


End file.
